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yoropa · 2010-05-22, 00:44

I'm gonna try to approach this question.

Take a simple, unicellular organism, and insert hormones into its environment. That cell is going to respond in a predetermined manner. The hormone will initiate a transduction pathway, etc etc until a cellular response occurs. In this regard, free will is nonexistant for this creature.

We humans are like this, to an extent. If you pump certain hormones into our bodies, our bodies are going to have a specific, predetermined response. For example, inject us glucagon and our blood sucrose levels will increase. We have no control over this. It'll just happen.

Now you could apply this in a grander scale. A neuron, when given a proper signal, will discharge ions from their neurotransmitters into adjacent cells. Most biologists believe that this somehow causes our thoughts. Our emotions, our feelings, our memories, our thoughts, all of it can simply be categorized as a reaction after a reaction on a large scale. In that regard, free will is nonexistant.

Yet still, despite the biology, I will still stand by my belief that free will does exist, to an extent. Sure, we cannot control a specific chemical and biological reaction our body has (put food in mouth, amylase is gonna be released from our salivary glands), but I believe that within the complex network of neurons, free thought exists in choice and decision making. Such a process is naturally affected by genetic and environmental influences of course, and if you wanna write that being the reason we don't have free will, so be it.

Here's my thing:
You are given a fork in the road. How will you react?

Well you're going to go by sensory input. Both look the same. Both smell the same. They feel the same. They taste the same. They are the same color. They are the same temperature. There is no difference to be noted from this. Then you're going by your memory. You've never encountered these roads. You have no recollection of these roads. You never have been in this situation. You don't know where either of them leads. The memory isn't giving you information.

So now the decision. What do you do? Is there a genetic trait that causes you to prefer one to the other? Probably not. The environmental factors have to kick in. Perhaps, since you are right-handed, you take the right. Or maybe you decide because you are right-handed, you should take the left. Maybe you do decision tricks like "eeny meeny miiny mo" or perhaps you decided to just turn around. At this point, I don't think biologically you can say there is anything major to contradict the hypothesis that, given this situation, you get to make a decision. And that is free will.

Also it's 1:43am and I'm tired and have no idea what I'm talking about so maybe this post should be ignored but whatever I'LL SAY IT ANYWAY (free will of mine to speak, or predetermined that I'd do this? YOU DECIDE!)

2010-05-22, 00:44	Link #73
yoropa Director Join Date: Feb 2010	I'm gonna try to approach this question. Take a simple, unicellular organism, and insert hormones into its environment. That cell is going to respond in a predetermined manner. The hormone will initiate a transduction pathway, etc etc until a cellular response occurs. In this regard, free will is nonexistant for this creature. We humans are like this, to an extent. If you pump certain hormones into our bodies, our bodies are going to have a specific, predetermined response. For example, inject us glucagon and our blood sucrose levels will increase. We have no control over this. It'll just happen. Now you could apply this in a grander scale. A neuron, when given a proper signal, will discharge ions from their neurotransmitters into adjacent cells. Most biologists believe that this somehow causes our thoughts. Our emotions, our feelings, our memories, our thoughts, all of it can simply be categorized as a reaction after a reaction on a large scale. In that regard, free will is nonexistant. Yet still, despite the biology, I will still stand by my belief that free will does exist, to an extent. Sure, we cannot control a specific chemical and biological reaction our body has (put food in mouth, amylase is gonna be released from our salivary glands), but I believe that within the complex network of neurons, free thought exists in choice and decision making. Such a process is naturally affected by genetic and environmental influences of course, and if you wanna write that being the reason we don't have free will, so be it. Here's my thing: You are given a fork in the road. How will you react? Well you're going to go by sensory input. Both look the same. Both smell the same. They feel the same. They taste the same. They are the same color. They are the same temperature. There is no difference to be noted from this. Then you're going by your memory. You've never encountered these roads. You have no recollection of these roads. You never have been in this situation. You don't know where either of them leads. The memory isn't giving you information. So now the decision. What do you do? Is there a genetic trait that causes you to prefer one to the other? Probably not. The environmental factors have to kick in. Perhaps, since you are right-handed, you take the right. Or maybe you decide because you are right-handed, you should take the left. Maybe you do decision tricks like "eeny meeny miiny mo" or perhaps you decided to just turn around. At this point, I don't think biologically you can say there is anything major to contradict the hypothesis that, given this situation, you get to make a decision. And that is free will. Also it's 1:43am and I'm tired and have no idea what I'm talking about so maybe this post should be ignored but whatever I'LL SAY IT ANYWAY (free will of mine to speak, or predetermined that I'd do this? YOU DECIDE!)